ICTA/Spiralation Successfully Completes Startup Mission to Singapore

The ICT Agency of Sri Lanka under the Spiralation banner concluded the first Startup mission to Singapore successfully on the 19th of May 2016. The Industry Development Program of the ICTA undertook this mission to learn about the startup ecosystem of Singapore as well as to participate and exhibit at the InnovFest unBound 2016 exhibition.

10 startups selected by a competitive application process joined the ICTA in this mission. The startups were

AdroitLogic Lanka (Pvt) Ltd.

Adrotec (Pvt) Ltd.

Enhanzer (Pvt) Ltd.

Erbenlab H.Q (Pvt) Ltd.

Global Tutor (Pvt) Ltd.

LiveRoom (Pvt) Ltd.

Mogo Solutions (Pvt) Ltd.

nCinga (Pvt) Ltd.

PayMedia (Pvt) Ltd.

Vyral Inc.

Visit to SMART

The mission started on the 16th of May 2016 with the visit to “SMART” – The Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology, a research and innovation center located in the “CREATE” towers within the Nation University of Singapore (NUS). The delegation were taken around the center which houses several research and development labs which were conducting research on ground breaking technology such as early cancer detection, cure for cancer, making micro-chips faster, self driving vehicles etc.

Part of the Sri Lankan Startups Delegation at CREATE Tower (Pic by Kanishka Weeramunda)

InnovFest unBound 2016

The 2nd and 3rd day of the mission were dedicated to participating at the InnovFest unBound 2016. InnovFest unBound is the anchor event of Smart Nation Innovations, a week-long series of events that showcases Asia’s most innovative developments in the media-tech sphere. Over 4500 global thought leaders, corporate executives, investors and entrepreneurs from Singapore and around the world including delegations from US, UK, Korea, japan, Thailand, China, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Russia participated at the event which also included an exhibition of the startups participating at the event.

At this event, the startups met with several stakeholders and had very fruitful discussions. The delegates also participated in the conference that was happening in parallel which brought in a wealth of knowledge to those who participated.

Startups having discussions at the exhibition booths (Pic by Ahamed Nishadh)

Startups having discussions at the exhibition booths (Pic by Ahamed Nishadh)

Pic by Ahamed Nishadh

Pic by Ahamed Nishadh

Unilever Startup Battle 2016 – Singapore

Live Room (Pvt) Ltd., PayMedia (Pvt) Ltd. and Mogo Solutions (Pvt) Ltd. were also selected into the semi finals of the Unilever Startup Battle that happened alongside InnovFest unBound 2016. From over a 100 applications, 18 startups were shortlisted for the semi finals. Of this 3, Live Room (Pvt) Ltd. was selected as one of the 6 finalists of the competition.

Sameera from Live Room on stage with the finalists and judges of Unilever Startup Battle at InnovFest unBound 2016 (Pic by Ahamed Nishadh)

Live Room doing a demo of the product (Pic by Ahamed Nishadh)

Sameera from Live Room pitching at the finals of the Unilever Startup Battle in Singapore (Pic by Ahamed Nishadh)

During the mission to Singapore, the ICTA together with the Singapore Sri Lanka Business Association also organized a business networking session for the Singapore business community. The event was held on the 18th of May 2016 at the Terra Rooftop Bar, Suntec Sky Gardens from 6.30pm onwards. The keynote of the event was done by Arunesh Peter, Director Projects at ICTA who spoke on “Digital Sri Lanka” and the various projects being undertaken by the Sri Lankan government and ICTA on transforming Sri Lanka into a Digitally Inclusive Society.

The startups who participated in the mission were also present at the event and were given an opportunity to network with the high network individuals present at the event. The Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Singapore H.E. Mr. Nimal Weeraratne was also present at this event.

Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Singapore H.E. Mr. Nimal Weeraratne speaking at the event (Pic by Ahamed Nishadh)Keynote speaker of the event Mr.Arunesh Peter speaking at the event (Pic by Ahamed Nishadh)Participants networking at the event (Pic by Ahamed Nishadh)

Visit to Block 71 and surroundings

The ICTA team also had the opportunity to visit the startup hub of Singapore known by many as Block 71. This area and the surrounding areas such as Block 79 and Block 73. This area is the home to many startup accelerators, incubators, co-working spaces, research centers and offices. The ICTA team met with Ms Shirley Wong, Chairperson of the Singapore Infocomm Technology Federation (SiTF). Ms Wong explained in detail how the startup ecosystem works in Singapore, the various support systems available for startups in Singapore via the government and the private sector as well as the initiatives being undertaken by the SiTF. After the discussions, Ms Wong also took the ICTA team on a tour around the area.